It turns out that Waldorf was riding along in the Gearspark caravan to head towards the Nameless Temple, which he believed may have some connection to his missing brother.

According to his report, The Other Party was not attacked by the Constellation Rangers, but rather by some sort of massive psychic attack. Waldorf believed the originator of the attack was a human attempting to emulate a Mind Flayer, and that their power was being massively amplified in some way.

After obtaining the magical stone shard from The Other Party, the two groups parted ways.

After hearing from Melody that their hammership could be prepped for travel overnight, The Party suggested that the Gearspark workers also salvage what weapons they could from Constellation Kaiser, particularly a gattling spear-gun and a harpoon launcher from one of its’ arms.

The next day, The Party returned to the Banished Crescent to ensure that all was well on that island. In addition, they convinced the lord of that Demesnes to fund their efforts to craft culinary creations based on the state of the island.

They also learned that a patrol of Elven sailors had encountered evidence that a ship holding the powerful wind artifact from the Mariner’s Mausoleum had departed that region and sailed towards the top of the Prismatic Vortex.

With the future of the crescent looking bright, their initial foray into the art of baking was a rousing success.

Once they departed the isle, there was a far more foreboding omen, however, as the elemental energies at the bottom of the Prismatic Vortex began to churn more violently.

The party returned to the Mariner’s Mausoleum only to find the undead fleet almost entirely destroyed. Aboard the lead ship was the broken skeletal form of a man calling himself Doldrum Jack, the apparent Captain of the crew.

He weaved a tale of how his crew had gambled with their souls for the power to rule the winds. However, it seems that the Bloodsky Pirates had used The Party‘s boat chase scene to mount a surprise attack on the lead vessel, striking down the Captain’s first mate, who was apparently the nexus of the dark magics maintaining the undead crew.

The one who struck the blow was described as a knight with a single glowing eye, but the ‘men in red’ also made an appearance.

In the end, the still-living swashbucklers would pilfer an artifact known as the Wingstone and use it to empower their own vessel.

Paying their last respects, The Party set a course onward and upward towards an isle high in the center of the Prismatic Vortex near the entrance to the anomaly.

From a distance, the island seemed to hold a large temple or palace. However, drawing near to it resulted in a bombardment of homing bolts of elemental energy. A hasty retreat ensured minimal damage to the vessel, but the power of the island was apparent.

Here they encountered the gnomish researcher Alston Winthrop III and his chief arcane research assistant Soveless Doubleday conversing with Waldorf Mikaelson about the peculiar ruins. However, it would ultimately be The Party that would puzzle out the mysteries of the temple and open the path to its’ innermost chambers.

Here they battled a massive artifact creature that only increased in tenacity as more and more pieces of it were destroyed. Eventually, at the heart of the ancient armor they uncovered a small orb-like construct that apparently contained the soul of Gimmelon Mikaelson.

It seemed that the ‘Gimmick King’ had completed his epic destiny to ascend to godhood, however, when he went to craft his own astral domain, there was a terrible planar catastrophe, and most of his divine power as well as most of his domain were put through a cosmic blender and destroyed.

The result of this catastrophe was none other than the Prismatic Vortex itself. While it still remains unknown as to whether this was simply due to Gimmelon Mikaelson’s inexperience as a newcomer to the deity business, or whether the domain was somehow sabotaged, a surprising amount of truth was uncovered.

With the aid of the isle’s former master, entering the Temple at the Apex should be no problem for our heroes, but what mysteries lie within?

Increasingly Ridiculous Occurances

After awakening, The Party found themselves trapped in the basement of the Meteorite Fortress by a mysterious energy field. Their captors had little interest in conversation, and instead seemed content to abandon the party and depart the facility, leaving the device affixed to their cell to do its’ work.

Analyzing the fey decor of the cell, The Party seized upon a combination mirror and clock that they sensed had been magically altered. The odd device was analyzed, opened, and even broken before the truth of the matter could be sorted out.

Eventually, it was revealed that the altered device within the clock could enchant the mirror to reflect a world in which the field enclosing the cell was absent. While this didn’t alter the world for the person viewing it, eventually a magical attack was fired into one of the shards of the mirror, destroying the device that held the field in place.

The Party fled the cell only to find another danger awaiting them. A series of explosive charges had been planted on the central column of the Meteorite Fortress. It appeared that the fortress wasn’t merely being abandoned, it was being demolished.

The Party acted quickly to remove these devices from this central load-bearing point and place them in more desirable locations, like on the backup generator downstairs. However, they eventually began to forgo finding an alternate location in favor of simply heaving the bombs to a safe distance. However, these actions began to severely weaken the integrity of other parts of the facility.

A few explosives tossed into some volatile arcane research tables on the 3rd floor proved especially devastating. A dangerous situation in on the Second Floor was narrowly defused as Mowgli and Frye had differing assessments of the former’s skill at bomb disposal.

Later, Frye and Nikolai would have time to investigate a map room in on the 1st floor, which contained remains of Spiral Eclipse strategic deployments. A few Shadow Manta ships were seen at The Foundry and a large tower-like vessel was placed in the dead center of the map.

When everyone arrived at the top floor and the charges detonated, the Meteorite Fortress seemed to be groaning under its’ own weight.

The Party quickly extracted the Deeproot from the core and raced towards an exit [[:frye | Frye] ]had previously secured.

While the shell of the Meteorite Fortress remained largely intact, the structures within could be heard collapsing upon one another as The Party left the facility behind and set forth into the wilderness.

The party’s trek across the Banished Crescent was eerily quiet until the group made camp. In the late hours of the night, Vouivre noticed a moving region where the moonlight was slightly more intense. After rousing his friends, they discovered that this was actually a subtle searchlight shining down from a ship flying above.

The group returned to camp, intending to quickly pack up and get out of the way when voice called down from above.

While she made no secret of the possibility that she and The Party could wind up on opposite sides in battle in the future, she insisted that she was always upfront and forward about her efforts at antagonism. Seeking to broker some sort of deal, she tossed a quiver of arrows to the party, requesting that one of the fighters use them when they inevitably clash with Raziela.

In exchange, she offered the services of a small but lavishly furnished ship that would ferry The Party back to the island of their choice. She also proclaimed her intention to visit Shardmoon Castle due to some of the amusing events that had transpired after The Other Party visited them.

Arriving in the valley, it they were but a few steps in when they came under attack by a truly bizarre set of assailants. An eccentric collection of survivors from the various groups that The Party defeated had apparently banded together to form a fighting force empowered by the magical forces of the stars.

While the equipment and antics of this group seemed comically absurd, their unique brand of teamwork still posed a serious threat. However, The Party was ultimately able to recover from the setbacks posed by this bizarre fighting force and achieve victory.

However, as each member of the opposing team fell, their strange armor released a flare of magical energy that erupted and flew off towards the south. It seemed clear that this odd enemy was somehow magically regrouping for a second attack.

After a brief period of rest and recovery, The Party headed south into the central square of Scrapthorn Valley. While the square was always filled with strange, broken-down machinery, this time was different. A collection of inoperative machines from throughout the Prismatic Vortex were laid out. Most of them were contraptions that The Party had bested in battle along their journey.

After another boastful shout from their oddball enemies, the assortment of machines rose slowly into the air and metamorphosed from broken shells to something more clearly threatening. Simultaneously, the collection of contraptions converged into an almost humanoid shape as their enemies revealed their ultimate weapon, the Super Construct Constellation Kaiser.

OR Captain Raptor and the MOON MYSTERY

After securing the top floor of the Meteorite Fortress, The Party discovered a few remaining hazards in the personal chambers of the facility’s leader, as well as a number of treasures left behind by the shadowy dragon they encountered a few days prior.

After failing to convince the nearby enemy ship that the situation was taken care of, they instead headed down to face the impending attack by the enemies deployed by the aforementioned vessel.

One floor down, more of the reclaimed Foundry constructs were at work cleaning up after the previous day’s adventure. While it initially looked like they would turn hostile, some outside force intervened and caused them to relent.

It would be on the following floor that The Party would meet with their enemies. The Primal Knight of the Spiral Eclipse, Varis the Blight and a small group of his men met with them in the main dining hall of the fortress and engaged in battle.

Things looked grim early on. One of Varis’ allies relentlessly assaulted Menkal, knocking him out of action several times before The Party was able to turn the tide.

Once his collection of compatriots were dispatched, Varis’ assault looked to be doomed to failure when he revealed one last ally he had waiting in the wings. A spiritual reflection of a horrible tentacled maw burst forth from below and menaced the party. Closer inspection revealed this beast to be some sort of twisted counterpart to the shaman spirit companions called forth by The Party.

However, even with this new back-up, the most this new companion could do was attempt to cover Varis’ escape, as a relentless attack by the party left him crawling desperately into a nearby teleportation device.

One of the allies of Varis had been a higher-ranked space-time researcher who carried with him a tablet-like device that was able to observe and direct the construction constructs at work in the facility. However, the more sensitive functions appeared to be protected by some sort of password.

Weary from this battle, the party took stock of their situation, stranded on the far side of the Banished Crescent and decided to press onward.

Descending into the first basement, The Party encountered a massive collection of plant life from the region kept in temporal stasis. However, the constructs on this floor had a secret order to release this stasis in the event that The Party showed up.

Moments later, the local greenery seemed to expand beyond the bounds of its’ previous enclosure, eventually threatening to engulf the whole room. In fact, the whole room seemed to be giving way to another reality entirely, as the Meteorite Fortress was soon supplanted by a pristine natural scene out of another world.

While The Party tried to deal with these bizarre developments, they were approached by a woman who Content Not Found: mowgli quickly identified as a dryad and her treant companion.

The words of these fey creatures were somewhat cryptic at times, but it became apparent that they had been taken captive somehow, and their only means of communication was via this strange world. They made mention of an Archfey known as the Maiden of the Moon, of whom it seemed there were several statues erected where once the temporal stasis fields had stood, although most of them had fallen into disrepair.

The search for answers went on for a short while, but eventually a much more unwelcome creature emerged in this strange environment. It appeared to be a shadowy reflection of the terrible spirit that Varis the Blight had called ‘Delanto’.

When physical combat proved meaningless against this nightmarish apparition, The Party moved to hoist a large mirror dropped by one of the statues, reflecting the moonlight from this illusory realm into a piercing blade of light that sliced through the shadowy beast.

With this challenge overcome, their fey acquaintances thanked them for their efforts, and informed them that while their situation may have changed while they were in this realm of dreams, that they would surely find a way to aid them.

The world around them seemed to fade away and The Party awoke as from a long night’s rest. Fortunately, they had also made it to the bottom of the Meteorite Fortress. Unfortunately, they were imprisoned by the facility’s new management.

The Party spoke briefly with a Warforged officer who they had encountered before while defending the Palace at Quondam. He indicated that after Varis’ failures, the Spiral Eclipse was now planning to pack up their research and abandon the Meteorite Fortress, but not until after they learned a bit more about The Party.

Strangely enough, The Party was in possession of all of their equipment, with the notable exception of the Timesplitter. However, the cell holding appeared to be bounded by some sort of magical field.

How will they escape from these sinister confines? What was up with that robot guy? Where are they going to get a new boat? Find out next time, on Fantastical Outerspace!

Heroes endure traps. Boat doesn't do so well.

The second floor contained the living quarters for the assorted mercenaries employed by the Spiral Eclipse to make their raids on the Banished Crescent. The party descended upon the thuggish hired guns and an eccentric Orcish Chef while they were in the midst of a meal.

While the initial goonswarm seemed overwhelming, Frye let fly with a flaming arrow that cut through the cannon fodder. Meanwhile, the eccentric cook lobbed horrible concoctions in an effort to keep The Party at bay, but the kitchen staff was ultimately conquered with little trouble.

After raiding the personal stashes of the enemies and pilfering some suspicious condiments from the kitchen, The Party moved down to the ground floor of the Meteorite Fortress.

Heading down the hallway, Menkal and Vouivre were assaulted by a blast of flame from one of the nearby pipes, revealing a makeshift security measure installed in the hallway. With this trap revealed, Frye elected to take the long way around.

Throwing open the main doors on this floor revealed a large armory and blacksmith’s workplace. Throwing caution to the wind, Menkal and Vouivre approached the shiniest container of equipment and discovered yet another hastily-assembled booby trap. After the arcane trip-mine placed on this container flared up, several containers of weapons nearby revealed their true forms as clockwork automatons that spun like tops covered in swords. One of the pieces of siege equipment in the room also revealed itself as some sort of electrical animated ballista that fired arcane bolts at the group.

After learning a cautionary tale about barrels full of swords, the party elected to retreat back to town to recover their strength using the nearby front door. As they exited, they caught sight of the form of a Shadow Manta, a Planar Ship that had been used to drop troops of the Spiral Eclipse on the Lost Triad and Timescarred Dial. The ship moved into an opening on the Meteorite Fortress opposite where the Shadow Dragon had emerged the day before.

Not wishing to attract any attention from this vessel, the hiked to a safe distance before taking flight back to the Silme Cirith.

The next day, after taking care of selling some old equipment and treasures, they took flight on a direct course towards the Meteorite Fortress.

As they drew near, they saw the Shadow Manta departing again, cloaking itself as it departed. Seeing an opportunity to slip into their docks, they dove towards the Meteorite Fortress. However, the Shadow Manta‘s real intention was to pursue [[The Party]’s own vessel, and as they drew nearer to the top of the Fortress, the sinister ship decloaked behind them and opened fire.

Initially, The Party sought to out-maneuver the Shadow Manta, but they were unable to shake their pursuer. The ship deployed a stinger-like device that began using what appeared to be magic of the divination school, attempting to perfectly scry the location of The Party’s ship, despite the fact that the location seemed obvious to the pilots of that vessel.

A few rounds of maneuvering later, the true nature of this sinister spell was revealed, as the enemy ship’s true goal was gaining some sort of magic missile lock-on.

Sensing danger, The Party headed downward towards the top of of the Meteorite Fortress. As a swarm of mystical projectiles erupted from the Shadow Manta, the party leapt clear of their vessel at the last second, landing atop the enemy base as their ship was torn apart by an arcane Itano Circus.

The ominous ship still descending, The Party scrambled down the side of the meteor to one of the battlements, and Vouivre blasted down the shutter, allowing them once again into the 3rd floor of the structure.

Racing to the top floor, they found a pair of researchers manning a set of control panels and some familiar-looking arcane constructs working the docks. Charging towards their intellectual adversaries, Menkal found himself treading on a number of deadly electrified floor tiles, that seemed to be placed haphazardly throughout the room.

While his sudden advance prevented them from re-opening the docking bay doors, the paranoia resulting from the unknown locations of the electrified tiles made the combat unusually perilous.

The constructs, which looked like modified versions of the ones seen at The Foundry took up their construction tools and bombarded The Party with painful nail-shooting mechanisms. Meanwhile, the researchers who had manned the temporal distortion network grabbed any space-time manipulation contraptions they could get their hands on and turned them on the intruders.

While these attacks created a number of painful hindrances to the battle plans of The Party, neither were truly intended for battle, and they were quickly dispatched once their tricky tactics were overcome.

Once the last arcane researcher was dispatched and his constrictive TIMEDIMENSION was dispelled, The Party at last had time to stop and catch their breath. However, with their ship shot down and unknown enemies lurking deeper within the Fortress, they were certain to encounter more dangers all too soon . . .

Crit (magic) missiles and headshot arrows do little to deter party

After resting in the Silme Cirith, The Party spent some time in town engaged in shadow dragon taxidermy and other amusing mercantile misadventures. Along the way, they learned that the jeweled headdress of the dragon they had slain was also a magical device designed to enable the beast to communicate telepathically with its’ home base. However, attempts to reactivate it only appeared to result in it being deactivated on the other end.

Returning to the crater at the end of the Banished Crescent‘s dead zone, the party landed and made a stealthy approach towards the massive rock. Closer inspection began to reveal its’ true nature as a stony facade around what was clearly a man-made fortification.

A band of mercenaries were treating the meteorite as a fortified installation while their apparently leader conversed with a returning band of Gnollish raiders.

The Party attempted to ambush these enemies at the gates, but the tide would not turn in their favor until after a fiery detonation by Vouivre and an electrifying assault by Frye would sweep the Gnollish minions off the field.

Later, Menkal would scale the battlements using the Timesplitter and endure a desperate final assault by a mercenary archer before leading the party to this third-story entrance.

Passing through the jagged stone exterior, the interior of the meteorite revealed it to be something like a larger-scale version of the drop-pods used by the Spiral Eclipse.

The first room they entered contained a workshop where the burrowing devices responsible for the expanding dead zone were lying about in various states of assembly. A single Eladrin researcher approached The Party and warned them that something sinister was lurking in the shadows.

Nikolai sighted one of the forms shifting through the dark, but even as he did, another approached from behind, thrusting forward with the ironic armament of a blade of light.

Sensing a familiar pattern to this intertwining of light and shadow, Nikolai was able to identify the shadowy creatures as a series of constructs based on the same principles as Iris Four.

While their attackers dealt heavy damage early on, The Party was eventually able to out-maneuver and overpower the Iris Series units. The Eladrin researcher also lent a hand in combat, hoping the party would rescue him from his forced servitude to the Spiral Eclipse.

Once the battle was over, the party learned that the researcher was being forced to create duplicates of a magical item known as the Deeproot. The root was being used to mimic the powers of a sentient tree of the Feywild that had an empathic bond to the plant life of the surrounding forest.

This magical bond was apparently being imitated as a means of targeting local plant life with the sinister time-distortion energies radiated by the meteor fortress. The power of this bond was being spread by lesser false roots installed by mercenary raiding parties.

The Deeproot was being held on the top floor of the meteorite in a powerful containment unit. Even if the main time distortion engine of the fortress, also located at its’ peak is shut down, a backup power source at its’ base would continue to keep the root under lock-down.

If both tasks were accomplished, the party could remove the Deeproot and shut down the facility completely. Taking the root would prevent them from having to deal with The Other Party when constructing the Hexelemental Drive. However, the Eladrin researcher, fearing the broad reach of the Spiral Eclipse instead wished the root to be destroyed.

To reward the party for this alternate course of action, he had prepared a device that would absorb the fey magics of the root and infuse them permanently into magic items carried by The Party, raising them to the next circle of enchantment. (In layman’s terms, a select few items could be raised from +1 to +2 or +2 to +3)

After hearing the party discuss amongst themselves as to whether he could truly be trusted, the researcher decided that rather than wait for a result, he would simply leap out the window and fey step his way towards freedom.

Episode For 01-16-2010

From there, they set off towards the Banished Crescent in search of further adventures. After requesting an audience with the local leadership, much of The Party spent time attempting to market baked goods based on the unique condition of the isle.

During their polling of the populace, they encountered a member of The Other Party, who Vouivre covertly tailed to a local temple to Ioun.

After the espionage and market research was complete, The Party met with an Eladrin man named Berrian Esgalelen, who had apparently been the lord of the Fey Demesnes that was accidentally banished. He seemed determined to continue with their New Year Celebration at the Ithilalda Fortress in spite of the danger facing the fortification.

The dead zone on the eastern side of the island was spreading from a suspicious meteorite. Furthermore, the zone was being artificially extended by bands of monstrous raiders who conducted hit-and-run strikes with burrowing magical devices.

Hoping to confront the cause of the island’s corruption directly, the party took flight in their skiff and sought to approach the impact crater from the air. Later they would encounter an artificial debris field that would prompt them to take a less direct route.

After inadvertently altering the enemy forces to their presence with an aborted landing attempt in the deadened forests outside the meteor crash site, The Party caught sight of the figure of a shadowy dragon departing from the suspicious meteorite.

After initially being thrown into disarray by the dragon’s ability to hide within spheres of darkness, the party eventually broke through the darkness with a combination of tactical positioning and clever use of magical items.

However, what would truly bring the beast down was a scheme by Menkal to lasso the dragon and restrain the worst of its’ powers.

Nevertheless, the soul-corroding breath of the monster was sufficient to leave the party drained and weary, prompting them to take wing before reinforcements could arrive.

Returning to the town known as the Silme Cirith, they planned to rest and plot a new course in the morning.

Skeletal plunderers find themselves plundered

Episode For 01-09-2010

After their first clash with a band of skeletal pirates in the Mariner’s Mausoleum, the party elects to head back to town to rest and recover. Before they departed, they received a cryptic message that warned of a mutual enemy gathering a large force in the mists ahead. However, the note also indicated that by defeating the one who supplied them with power, they could all be defeated.

The party headed back to the Shadegrasp Outpost on the Forlorn Rise. On the way, they noticed a number of small boats docked outside Shardmoon Castle, a place that seemed unlikely to attract visitors. Once in town, the party rested and obtained equipment and supplies.

Frye also took time to catch up with the people at the local church of the Raven Queen, where he learned from Phoebe Ingram that Serkan Dolan had demanded a rematch with Crescentia Hargrave after learning that his prior victory was illegitimate.

His second match did not go as planned, and the conditions of his loss demanded that he fill in as the guardian of the castle’s front gate until a permanent replacement for Petya Volkov could be hired.

Returning to the Mariner’s Mausoleum, the party investigated a number of derelict vessels before finding one they were able to reactivate. However, shortly after getting the vessel moving, a number of ships emerged from the mists, crewed by the same skeletal swashbucklers who beset them the day before.

While the adventurers attempted to engage them in naval combat, they were quickly outgunned and outmaneuvered by the superior numbers of the undead brigands. Executing a daring strategy, the party aligned the windows of the vessels and retreated blow decks. Using the secret powers of the Timespiltter sword, they teleported onto a neighboring vessel, and once the bulk of the pirate crew was on deck to board their previous ship, they sized control of the pilot’s room.

With the head start granted by their covert boarding operation and some well-placed shots at the enemy’s high-speed skiffs, the party was able to make their escape from the Mariner’s Mausoleum. However, the sounds of thunder echoing deeper within the mists may indicate that theirs was not the only conflict that occurred that day.

The Increasingly Absurd Ongoing Saga

Episode for 01-02-2010

Returning to the oft-chaotic campsite, the party finds Dr. Bunzinger and his crew at work assembling the arcane machinery that is to be their escape route from the anomalous vortex that has entrapped them.

After handing over two more components for this increasingly convoluted contraption, a number of intriguing new facts were uncovered:

The Hexelemental Drive will require a large and powerful vessel in order to function properly. The Astral Skiff that Melody assembled will not be sufficient.

Eliza believes the Vortex itself will cease to exist within a year’s time due to some cataclysmic event.

Symbols reminiscent of Waldorf‘s Brother’s work were seen in notes related to the Nameless Temple.

From there, our heroes headed out to an ominous portion of the vortex known as the Mariner’s Mausoleum, in search of additional magical power sources and salvageable vessels.

After making a stealthy approach, the party encountered a pair of once-jailed pirates from their distant past, who after making their escape, were seeking to prove themselves to new prospective employers.

While the party debated what to do with their old enemies, new nemeses made their appearance, as two squads of skeletal swashbucklers emerged from the mist, filled with sinister intent.

After cooperating to best the bony brigands, the two ex-prisoners made yet another escape by commandeering one of their assailants’ vessels and fleeing the scene.